A crossing guard now helps students cross the busy road for 30 minutes before and after school. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Spencer Sterritt

safer street

Temporary crossing guard keeping Ecole North Oyster students safe on busy road

Jan 8, 2021 | 5:29 AM

NANAIMO — A temporary crossing guard is now helping young students cross a busy road to safely get to school.

The guard at Ecole North Oyster began on Monday, Jan. 4. They’re at the Cedar Rd. crosswalk for 30 minutes before and after school for the rest of the school year.

“It’s great having the guard there,” grandparent Mick Hurd told NanaimoNewsNOW when picking up his grandchild on Thursday, Jan. 7.

The position is expected to cost the Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District up to $8,000 for a pro-rated year, costing $12,400 for an entire year.

School district trustee Stephanie Higginson told NanaimoNewsNOW the crossing guard is a temporary solution to a much larger problem.

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“What we need to look at long-term is our solutions for having less cars parking on the shoulder and how we’re going to create a safer parking lot situation for families,” she said.

“We hope this crossing guard is enough to increase the safety for a while until we can deal with this in a more effective manner.”

A crosswalk was installed in 2015 and was expanded with overhead safety lights and signage in March, 2020.

The stretch of Cedar Rd. in front of Ecole North Oyster is notoriously dangerous.

Higginson said it’s not safe for students to walk to school due to the narrow shoulder and heavy traffic with many visual obstacles.

A lack of necessary parking is also a continual issue. Parents now use the community hall parking lot across from the school, which increases the number of students crossing the road.

The Parent Advisory Committee at Ecole North Oyster has fought for years to improve safety in the area.

Their efforts were galvanized when a pre-school aged child, believed to be the sibling of a student, was hit by the mirror of a passing car during an evening event in 2018.

Committee member Camille Hillis told NanaimoNewsNOW the resulting accident forced them to cancel all evening events at the school, which impacted fundraising and school activities.

“We need a proper parking lot with a proper drop-off zone for families who can drop off their children and go quickly and parking lot for families who need to escort their children.”

Hillis said progress hasn’t been made in creating a drop-off zone for families.

Making the crossing guard at Ecole North Oyster permanent will be discussed by the school district in conjunction with a long-range facilities plan currently being drafted.

– with files from Ian Holmes

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @SpencerSterritt